


Fairer Than Earth is the Sea

by Scytale



Category: Hidden Legacy Series - Ilona Andrews
Genre: Different Perspective, F/M, First Meetings, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-01
Updated: 2019-09-01
Packaged: 2020-10-05 01:47:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20480906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scytale/pseuds/Scytale
Summary: Alessandro Sagredo is called to test a possible Prime.The first meeting between Catalina and Alessandro, from his perspective.Some spoilers forSapphire Flames.





	Fairer Than Earth is the Sea

The oldest Baylor looks grimly determined; the youngest sister is cocky and defiant. But Catalina Baylor's eyes are terrified as she walks toward Alessandro; she hugs her arms against her stomach as if that might possibly protect her from the Assembly’s gaze.

Alessandro smiles reassuringly at her; he can afford to be kind.

And she needs it. Even if she passes his test, she’ll lose today. Even when all he’d known of her was the refreshingly uncurated Instagram he’d checked from bored curiosity, he’d known that she wouldn’t belong among Primes — she was far too genuine and nowhere near cruel enough.

When she begins to speak, he feels her magic. He’s fought psionic and telepathic talents that feel like knives or a collision, but nothing like this — her power tries to wrap softly around him with every word, and it tastes like sunlight and honey.

At first, it’s easy enough for him to resist. She tells him about her family vacation, and he can see the white beaches and blue waters in his mind’s eye and imagine how it must feel to be safe and content enough to watch the fish.

Then, the magic rises, strong for all its sweetness, and it’s like he’s fighting an undertow. He has to draw on his reserves, and it’s an effort to speak. One wrong move and he’ll drown.

Then, he sees light — there are wings behind Catalina Baylor, sapphire and emerald, tipped with gold. They flare, bright and beautiful. The wonder and shock of it causes his magic to slip.

He is lost. He forgets his past and his plans. All he wants to do is to give her all she wants, to shelter her from anything that would hurt her; he wants her to smile at him and wrap her beautiful wings around him.

She asks him to come to her. Alessandro doesn't hesitate -- he crosses the line.

* * *

His sister calls while he’s driving. Alessandro puts the phone on speaker.

“So the girl was a Prime after all,” his sister says.

“She was." He swallows, remembering the girl, the wings like an angel's. "She made it past my mental defenses.”

Sunlight streams in through the glass, and in the rearview mirror, the city skyscrapers fade into the distance.

“Just for a few moments,” he tells his sister, “I knew what it felt like to be in love.”

**Author's Note:**

> Scribbled this down after reading _Sapphire Flames_, because holy shit, my id loves this ship.
> 
> The title comes from Swinburne's "The Triumph of Time", because Swinburne is the poet to go to if you ever need to reference the sea. Specifically this part, which is very Alessandro/Catalina:
> 
> _These were a part of the playing I heard_  
Once, ere my love and my heart were at strife;  
Love that sings and hath wings as a bird,  
Balm of the wound and heft of the knife.  
Fairer than earth is the sea, and sleep


End file.
